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Marquee assessment on the horizon

It took three votes for the Port Orchard City Council to decide once and for all to try to save the citys downtown marquee. Now its future is in the hands of the councils Public Property Committee.

The committee, chaired by Carolyn Powers along with Bob Geiger and John Clauson, met Tuesday morning to discuss the first steps in retaining and repairing the decades-old structure.

At the last council meeting, the council authorized us to have (Port Orchard Public Works Director Maher Abed) look for consultants to do a structural analysis of the marquee, Powers explained.

Powers was quick to note that the analysis was only an assessment, not a solution.

The consultant will tell us what the damage is and where, what the inherent problems are in the structure as it now exists and whether they can be fixed, Powers said. Its not to solve the problem. Its not to tell us how to fix anything. Its an assessment.

Powers said the committee is looking at the marquee in terms of what it can do in the short term as well as the long term.

The next step will be to determine where we go from here, Powers said. We didnt want to do anything until we had a clear idea of exactly what we were dealing with.

Powers said the committee will most likely choose a contractor next week and request permission from the council at its next meeting Sept. 12.

Were trying to get something together for the next council meeting, Powers said. Im committed to getting this issue resolved.

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